What, Getting Up at 6 AM on a Saturday?

But it'll all be worth it because we are going to be doing the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk To Cure Diabetes at Crissy Field! Last year at this time, we were only a few months out from our son's diagnosis, and therefore weren't thinking much of fundraising. I will post pictures from the Walk and a full report after it's all over. As of this moment, our family has raised $3,210.00 towards the cure. I don't think that's too bad for our first year doing this! (Although little sis showed me up... see below, her report on the same day as my Jennifer O'Connell interview!)

This week was SO busy! Not only was I making 17 hand-dyed, hand-decorated Walk T-shirts for our team, but I also had been invited to be a part of the LitQuake literary festival in San Fancisco. On Wednesday night I got to perform as part of a reading group called "Loudmouths of Lit" at The Make-Out Room in San Francisco. I had very much, muchly fun. Everyone there was VERY nice, and they gave all the readers coupons for two drinkies. Loverly. And since I believe in authors promoting each other, here were the talented authors who read alongside me, with links to their sites, or articles about them, whichever Google popped up for me:

7:15pm -- Adam Johnson (Parasites Like Us)

7:30pm -- Dodie Bellamy (Pink Steam)

7:45pm -- Kirk Read (How I Learned to Snap)

8:15pm -- Tamim Ansary (West of Kabul, East of New York)

8:30pm -- Holly Payne (The Sound of Blue)

8:45pm -- Peter Orner (Esther Stories)

9:00pm -- Sean Wilsey (Oh the Glory of It All) (I am not sure this guy actually made it. I'm not sure, so I am including him anyway. I realize that this makes me seem like a space cadette. Ah well. We must suffer for our art.)

Everyone was so talented. (Even the guy who might not have been there.) It was really an honor to have been invited. Afterwards I got to talk to someone from the San Francisco Chronicle (sadly, I do not remember her name), and then I huddled together with Adam Johnson as if we were old, dear friends (I think he thought I was on speed perhaps since I chat a LOT when I get nervous, and I was nervous), for a picture by some photographer from some magazine. It was actually a pretty well-known magazine, which I again cannot remember. (See what those two free drinks will do to you?) However, if I get famous I'll let you know. Then you can say you read my blog way back when.

Also, an author I really like named Stephen Elliott showed up and stopped by to chat for awhile. He is supernice, supersmart and supertalented, so you should all buy his book, Happy Baby. Now. Because I said so, that's why.

PLEASE read Dee's story of Bailey's diagnosis, just over a year ago... and be sure to tell him how great they are all doing. What an amazing family.

Here's a really horrible story I read today (via Associated Press). I've got other crappy, evil stories to post for you, but I won't deluge you with them all at once. This one is sufficient to ruin your weekend:

Driver Allegedly Makes Ill Child Leave Bus

By Associated Press

1 hour agoUPDATED 1 HOUR 1 MINUTE AGO

SALEM, Ore. - A school bus driver no longer has his job after he allegedly told a sick child to get off his bus. The diabetic child was left several blocks from his house the morning of Oct. 7, according to his mother, Leigh Nowning.

The 12-year-old used his cell phone to call her. She picked him up and later took him to a hospital emergency room.

"If my son had not had that cell phone, he'd be dead," Nowning said.

The Salem-Keizer School District would not release the driver's name, citing privacy issues.

District officials declined to comment, and refused to say whether the driver quit or was fired. But school district officials confirmed the man no longer worked for the district as of Wednesday.

Nowning said she viewed a school district surveillance video from the bus Thursday. On the tape, she said she saw the bus stop as children told the driver her son was throwing up. Her son walked up the aisle to tell the driver he was ill.

"The guy just said 'Get off the bus, then,'" Nowning said.

She picked up her son about six blocks away from their home. She said he is a Type 1 diabetic, and a home test showed his blood-sugar levels were high. They went to the emergency room for treatment.

"He was passing out when he stood up," she said. "His metabolic system was in shock, and it doesn't take much longer for a person to go into a coma, followed by death."

Nowning said it was clear from the video that the driver did nothing for her son. She said she will consider a lawsuit and ask for a criminal investigation.

School district officials said they were investigating.